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The Environmental Protection Agency should extend the 45-day comment period for a report that linked hydraulic fracturing to water contamination in Pavillion, Wyo., said Encana Oil & Gas, a major producer in the Pavillion Field in the state. The period is scheduled to expire on Jan. 27. "The EPA is moving too quickly with its pre-dissemination public comment and peer review process on the Pavillion Report," John Schopp, Encana's vice president for Northern Rockies operations, wrote in a letter to EPA.

Related Summaries

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it would abandon its probe of the potential effects on groundwater of drilling for natural gas in Wyoming. A draft report issued by the agency in 2011 linked water pollution to Encana's natural gas drilling operations in Pavillion, Wyo. The company countered the findings, saying they were based on flawed testing.

The Environmental Protection Agency will extend for eight months the comment period for its final report linking hydraulic fracturing to possible pollution of water supplies. An EPA spokeswoman announced a Sept. 30 deadline to allow industry, as well as the local government and residents of Pavillion, Wyo., where tests for the report were conducted, and any others to submit comments. This is the third time the report's finalization has been delayed since the initial report was released in December 2011.

The Environmental Protection Agency's draft report that linked groundwater pollution to EnCana's hydraulic fracturing operations in Pavilion, Wyo., lacks accurate data and should be withdrawn, a company official said. The agency should instead focus on complaints by several residents about palatability concerns from shallower domestic wells, said David Steward, team lead for the company's environment, health and safety operations in Wyoming.

An Environmental Protection Agency official defended a draft report that linked hydraulic fracturing to groundwater pollution in Pavillion, Wyo., amid criticism from natural gas industry trade groups, Encana and Wyoming lawmakers. EPA followed established sampling and analysis protocols in its study, said Jim Martin, the agency's regional administrator for Wyoming and surrounding states. "The investigation was subjected to the Agency's highest level [quality assurance] procedures. Audits of data quality and technical systems in the laboratory and field were conducted by an independent contractor and EPA QA manager," Martin said in his prepared testimony.

Encana and Chesapeake Energy disagree with the findings of an Environmental Protection Agency report that linked hydraulic fracturing to groundwater pollution in Pavillion, Wyo. "The EPA's data from existing domestic water wells aligns with all previous testing done by Encana in the area and shows no impacts from oil and gas development," the company said. Encana also criticized the agency for releasing the findings before independent review.